Arrakis

Latest revision as of 06:03, 24 April 2024

Arrakis is a planet that features in Dune.

History

Arrakis was a desert world that was the third planet that orbited the star Canopus. It came to be discovered by the Old Empire where it had little value to the inhabitants of the Imperium. The dominant form of life on the planet were the gargantuan Sandworms that resided beneath its sands. Ecologist Pardot Kynes came to believe that the planet was once a lush and fertile world long ago. Despite that, it was deemed of little importance to the Imperium and thus was largely ignored. However, the discovery of the Spice Melange led to it being the most important world in the universe. The substance became essential to space travel and was a coveted resource that made the harsh world a focal point for the empire. At some point, Wandering Zensunni travellers came to settle on the world where they became part of its human population where they came to be known as the Fremen.

For decades, the planet was placed under the fiefdom of House Harkonnen.

In 10,191 A.G., House Atreides arrived on Arrakis and took over control of the planet and spice production. By this time, the planet had for some years been under the brutal control of Atreides enemies House Harkonnen, who managed spice mining operations on behalf of Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. The Atreides rule was cut short, however, through a betrayal as part of a conspiracy between Harkonnen and Imperial forces. House Atreides went into hiding, but after seeking refuge with the Fremen quickly became their leaders through their inherent ability to command loyalty and through their promise that Kynes's vision would be realized through their rule. Three years later, Paul Atreides, under the Fremen name of Muad'Dib, using Atreides family atomics, created a gap in the Shield Wall that had protected Arrakeen. Riding into the city on sandworms, the Fremen defeated Harkonnen and Corrino forces, and Paul Atreides declared victory and ascended to the Golden Lion Throne. Arrakis became the new seat of power for both the Empire and the religious jihad that Paul unleashed upon the known universe.

Paul Muad'Dib continued the efforts to terraform Arrakis into a green world, a plan begun by the Fremen under the guidance of Imperial Planetologist Pardot Kynes and his son Liet-Kynes. The core of their plan was gradual water-collection from the Arrakeen atmosphere to form large reservoirs that would, eventually, become lakes and oceans. Much of this activity takes place in the unexplored southern latitudes of Arrakis. Eventually, Paul's limited interpretation of the Golden Path strategy led to the terraforming of the planet, carried out by Paul's son Leto Atreides II, the long-lived God-Emperor.

Over several thousand years, Arrakis was transformed into a green and temperate world much more habitable to humans, just as Kynes had hoped. Ultimately, however, the new ecology was dangerous to the giant sandworms, which nearly became extinct under Leto II's rule. During this time, new mountain ranges, forests, and rivers came into existence. Offworld animals were introduced and took root on the planet. Only Leto's Sareer remained evidence that Arrakis was once a desert planet. After some 3,500 years of rule, Leto II died while crossing the Idaho River after the Guardian Wall of the Sareer opened. Leto fell into the river, and his worm-body was destroyed by the water, which was toxic to him. His body decomposed into sandtrout that absorbed water, eventually re-creating the conditions required for the sandworms to appear. Over the next 1,500 years, under the biological terraforming effect of the sandtrout/sandworm cycle, Arrakis gradually returned to being a desert. Also, over long millennia, many names for places had become shortened. Arrakis eventually became known as Rakis, while the city of Arrakeen became known simply as Keen. After Leto's death, Leto's Fish Speakers, the Rakian Priesthood, and the Bene Gesserit took control of the planet.

Overview

In appearance, Arrakis was a desert world located far from major populated worlds and their trade routes. It was orbited by two moons with the first being larger and bearing a formation that looked like a human fist whilst the second smaller one resembled a kangaroo mouse. The surface of the planet consisted almost exclusively of dry dune deserts with this being the reason it was also referred to as Dune.

The atmosphere consisted of 75.4% nitrogen, 23% oxygen. Various weathered mountain ranges stretched across the planet breaking up the deserts.

Major sandstorms on Arrakis known as a Coriolis Storm had winds across the open flatlands that were amplified by the planet’s own revolutionary motion to reach speeds up to 700 kilometers per hour. The aftermath of such storms brought about the El-Sayal ('rain of sand') that was a fall of dust which had been carried to medium altitude of around 2,000 meters and brought moisture to ground level.

Locations on Arrakis included:

• Arrakeen :
• Carthag :
• Sietch Tabr :
• The Keep :
• Grand Palace of Arrakeen :
• Temple of Alia :
• Citadel of Leto II :

Any deep crevasse or depression on the desert of Arrakis filled with dust not apparently different from the surrounding surface were known as a Dust Chasm. These were deadly trap because human or animal will sink in it and smother.

Adaptive zones were laid out in the deep south.

Lifeforms native to the planet included:

• Creosote Bush :
• Desert Mouse :
• Sandworm :

There was a rare native root plant that grew above the 2,500-meter level in the northern temperate zone. A tuber two meters long yielded half a liter of water. And there were the terraform desert plants: the tougher ones showed signs of thriving if planted in depressions lined with dew precipitators.

Pets were almost unknown on Arrakis with stock animals being rare due to its harsh conditions. Some smugglers employed the domesticated desert ass, the kulon, but the water price was high even when the beasts were fitted with modified stillsuits. Some modified Chiroptera of Arrakis called Cielago were adapted to carry distrans messages.

Though the surface was a wasteland, the presence of the spice melange made it the most valuable planet in the universe. The idiomatic for open sand workers and spice hunters were Dune Men.

The native Fremen lived in patriarchal tribes known as sietches that were led by a naib. All the sietches were said to be part of a brotherhood known as the Ichwan Bedwine.

Organizations that came to operate from Arrakis included:

• Fremen :
• Rakian Priesthood :
• Fish Speakers :

Inhabitants

• Stilgar :
• Chani :
• Pardot Kynes :
• Leto Atreides II :

Notes

• Arrakis was created by Frank Herbert where it featured as the primary setting in the Dune universe.
• The non-canon Dune Encyclopedia (1984) theorizes that the depletion of the oceans was probably caused by the impact or near miss of a comet or other quasi-planetary body. This event caused the loss of much of the atmosphere of Arrakis, allowing most of the oxygen and water to escape into space. This is thought to have occurred approximately 50 million years before the Imperium's creation. This catastrophic loss of oxygen led to the extinction of nearly all native flora and then therefore the fauna. It explained that one of the few forms to survive were tiny worms of the phylum Protochordata. One of these forms was Shaihuludata, a genus of anaerobic burrowing worm that was the basal species from which the giant sandworms (Geonemotodium arraknis or Shaihuludata gigantica) evolved. Rather than sandworm creating desert, it was desert that created sandworm. The mass extinction of all of its predators and competitors for food allowed the animal, in a manner somewhat analogous to the evolution of unique faunal forms on isolated Terran islands, to take the evolutionary path that would not only re-oxygenate the Arrakeen atmosphere, but also create the spice melange with all of its immense consequences for humanity. The Encyclopedia also noted that early in the history of Arrakis, the Imperium made several attempts to terraform the planet, which resulted in an abundance of Terran desert life on the planet (such as kangaroo mice and hawks), but failed to otherwise change the environment, as the local sandtrout "encyst" any open water on the planet.

In other media

Television

• In Frank Herbert's Dune, Arrakis featured in the setting of the 2000 live-action television mini-series.

Films

• In Dune, Arrakis featured in the setting of the 1984 live-action film.
• In Dune, Arrakis featured in the setting of the 2021 live-action film remake.
• In Dune: Part Two, Arrakis featured in the setting of the 2024 live-action film sequel.

Video games

• In Dune II, Arrakis appeared as part of the setting in the video game.
• In Emperor: Battle for Dune, Arrakis appeared as part of the setting in the real-time strategy video game.

Appearances

• Dune: (1965)
• Dune Messiah: (1969)
• Children of Dune: (1976)

External Links

• Dune Wiki Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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